New Delhi: To find a solution for the ongoing Shaheen Bagh protest, two of three Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors on Wednesday reached Shaheen Bagh to talk to the protestors out on the streets for more than a month against the new citizenship law (CAA).
Former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah could not make it, while senior lawyers Sanjay Hegde and Sadhna Ramachandran, appointed by the Supreme Court to speak to the protesters, are participating in the dialogue.
Speaking to media before addressing protestors, Hegde hoped for a fruitful interaction with the protestors as he said, “We hope the talks will be successful.”
The interlocutors have been assigned to hold talks with people protesting at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area over CAA and to convince them to shift their sit-in to an alternative site.
The apex court has fixed the matter for further hearing on February 24.
Media asked to leave
Media covering dialogue between the Supreme Court appointed interlocutors and Shaheen Bagh protesters was told to leave protest site on Wednesday after the interlocutors refused to speak in front of them.
The decision came after a brief argument between the interlocutors and protesters over the presence of media during the dialogue, as protesters weighed in on having conversation in presence of the media.
“Jo baat hogi sabke saamne hogi” (Talks will take place in front of everyone), women protesters at Shaheen Bagh shouted as senior lawyer Sadhna Ramachandran announced that interaction will not start before video recordings were stopped.
Addressing the protesters, senior lawyer said, “If you (protesters) want to talk before media, you can speak. But we will not speak.” Ramachandran said.
“We have 4 days to talk, after that we will have other ways for dialogue,” Ramachandran added.
The senior lawyer had maintained since the start of her address that media should not be allowed inside the protest site during the talks.
While protesters wanted media to stay and record the dialogues, however, eventually it was decided that media will have to leave the protest site and the protesters will provide minutes of the interaction with Interlocutors to the media after the meeting.
